


Hands

by quietlywritingandflying



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Panic Attacks, Temporary Character Death, klance, lil bit of angst, well kind of temporary? you'll see once you read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 06:32:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7966192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietlywritingandflying/pseuds/quietlywritingandflying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Keith wants to do is hold Lance's hand, but he hasn't exactly confessed to him yet</p><p> </p><p>tw: death mention/ temporary death (?)<br/>tw: panic attacks</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hands

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Voltron/klance fic so I'm sorry if it's OOC I tried  
> 

“Okay Kogane, pull yourself together,” Keith whispers while lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. Groaning, he sits up. Keith isn’t one to openly show affection but fuck he can’t stand it anymore. Lance and his stupid ocean blue eyes and broad shoulders that you could practically stand on, Keith thinks. But you wouldn’t guess what is making Keith so flustered. It’s not Lance’s Shakira hips or his cocky smirk, but his hands. Yes, you heard it right, his hands. They’re the perfect mixture of strong yet careful, coarse yet comforting; well, Keith would think so, he’s never exactly held Lance’s hand before. For days now he’s been building up the courage to actually put his hand in the other paladin’s. Once he thinks he can do it, he falters and the courage dissipates. Now, it wouldn’t be much of a problem if Lance made the first move but that’s also where the trouble begins. Lance doesn’t know how Keith feels about him. He has no idea that Keith stays up at night thinking about Blue’s pilot who’s asleep in the room next door. 

 

“You got this, you can do it. Just go up and grab that idiot’s hand.” Standing up, Keith pulls on the last of his paladin gear. He goes into the hallway, the door automatically closing behind him. The hell are you doing, the thought repeats itself until he enters the control room where the rest of the paladins are gathered. They’re going to go to the Balmera to check on how it’s recovering. That’s what Allura says at least, everyone knows that it’s because Hunk has been worried about Shay with how close her home was to being destroyed. While Allura was setting up the wormhole, Keith stood beside Lance, their shoulders inches apart. Slowly yet surely, Keith opens his hand and tries to subtly grab Lance’s. But at the last second, his nerves got the best of him and he quickly withdrew his hand. Lance glances over to see a reddening Keith but doesn’t say anything. 

 

~ ~ ~

The Balmera has recovered fully and the Balmerans have as well. Hunk and Shay disappeared for a couple hours as she wanted to show him her favourite star-viewing spot. Allura, Coran, and Shiro take this time to consult with the Balmerans with how they’re holding up after the Galra invaded. Pidge is sitting on the ground tinkering with a computer chip so this leaves Lance sitting on a tall boulder, legs dangling off the edge. Keith leans against the base of the boulder, Lance’s feet a couple feet away from Keith’s forearms.  
“Hey Keith?”  
“Hm?”  
“You okay? You looked kinda feverish earlier.” No, that’s not…that’s not concern in Lance’s voice, right? No, it’s something else, it has to be.  
“No, I’m fine. Just been having trouble sleeping lately.”  
“Oh, okay.” It wasn’t a complete lie, Keith hasn’t been able to fall asleep very well. That part was true, but he definitely wasn’t okay; especially when Lance’s hands were so close. Keith moves a little bit away, making it look like he was shifting his weight. After several minutes of tense silence, Allura, Coran, Shiro, and Hunk come into view. Lance jumps down from the boulder to walk beside Hunk, jokingly asking how his girlfriend is doing (“She’s not my girlfriend! Just a rock that I admire.”). Seeing Lance smile makes Keith’s heart skip a beat and a small grin crawl into existence on his own face. That adorable idiot, what I would give to be as close to him as Hunk is. Keith sighs and ducks back into Red as the others do the same.  
At dinner the two are sitting next to each other. Keith is absentmindedly jabbing at the goo with his spoon, thoughts cascading through his mind like waves. God why can’t I just do it already. I should tell him. But what if that ruins everything, I doubt he even likes me how I do him. He did sound concerned earlier, didn’t he? Or was I just imagining it? A hand on his shoulder jerks him out of his thoughts.  
“Keith, are you okay?” It’s Shiro.  
“Yeah. I’m fine, just not hungry I guess.”  
“Then you should get some rest, it’s getting late. I know you’re tired.” Keith nods and whispers an agreement before cleaning off his plate. Once in his room, he shrugs off the heavy paladin gear and changes into more comfortable clothes. He falls back on his bed, slowly letting his eyes close into a fitful sleep.  
/Lance has been in the cryopod for longer than would be considered necessary. His injuries were bad, yes, but not this bad to be healing for five days. Keith paces around the infirmary, his heart racing. Five days. It’s been five days since Sendak tried to take the Castle of Lions. Five days since Lance was placed into the cryopod to recover. It’s been too long. Lance should be out of there by now. Keith walks over to the pod and stares at the sleeping Lance. There are footfalls behind him and he turns to see Allura coming up to him.  
“He hasn’t shown any signs of waking up, Allura. Is this how long it usually takes?”  
“Well, no…This isn’t normal. His injuries weren’t bad enough to be in there for this long but if he hasn’t woken up yet then there’s something we must have missed,” Allura sighs. “All we can do is wait, Keith.”  
Waiting. That’s all he’s been doing. Once Allura leaves, Keith puts his hands on the cold plastic cover of the pod. His head is bowed and he sinks to the ground, hands above his head and still on the cover.  
“C’mon Lance. Just wake up already, you fuck… I-I’m worried about you. There I said it. Please wake up, I’m begging you. You know me, Lance, and I don’t beg,” Keith’s voice breaks. He stays kneeling like this for several minutes, not letting any tears fall even though they’re about to overflow. He’s never felt like this towards someone before and it’s scaring him. He sighs and stands up. His hand lingers on the clear plastic as he turns to leave. Right before he reaches the exit to the infirmary, a siren blares and the room blinks red. Keith whips around to see Lance’s cryopod blinking red and fast. His heart beginning to beat as quickly as the blinking. Allura, Coran, and the other paladins race into the room. The Altaens hurry over to the pod and hastily tap on hologram screens.  
“Life support has stopped. His body is failing, there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Open the pod and he dies immediately, leave it closed and he might last a few more minutes but either way he’s gone. I’m sorry, Paladins. I’m sorry, Keith.” Coran turns to the group, his eyes lowered and sad. Keith collapses onto the ground, finally letting his tears fall.  
“No! There has to be something we can do. There has to be!” Keith looks up, eyes already red and swollen, cheeks wet with large tears. A heart rate monitor blinks awake at the right side of Lance’s pod. The steady beat doesn’t last long. Soon it slows and then stops all together, a long shrill beep signifying that Lance’s heart has stopped.  
“NOO!! LANCE!” Keith stumbles to the pod as the cover opens and Lance drops out, lifeless. Keith catches Lance’s body before he hits the ground. The other Paladins stand still, not expecting any of this to happen. Air gets caught in Keith’s throat, choked sobs turned into screaming grief. Keith’s arms tighten around Lance’s body as he sobs into the frozen shoulder. His grip on the body tightens even more as if it could revive the deceased./  
Keith flies up out of bed, heart racing and breath laboured. Tears flow down his cheeks. His eyes can’t focus with tear-blurred vision mixed with heightened adrenaline. He reaches out to touch the wall, it feels closer than it actually is and his breath starts to come in short bursts. Stars flicker in Keith’s eyes, his limbs begin to lose feeling. His breath becomes choked, soon he’s clawing at his throat trying to breathe. He’s unable to inhale, exhalations raspy and few. The door to his room opens and Keith trips out into the hallway. Finally his heart slows and his breathing normalizes. He collapses on the ground, his tears have stopped but are replaced by hiccuped breathing. His hands grab at his hair, pulling his head into his legs. All he can hear is the blood rushing through his ears, eyes squeezed closed.  
The sound of an opening door doesn’t register in Keith’s oxygen-deprived brain until he opens an eye to see a blurry blue robe. He looks up to see Lance’s scared and concerned face above him. Keith doesn’t say anything, a warm tear crawling across the bridge of his nose. Lance drops down onto his knees beside the broken down teenager. He reaches for Keith’s head and places it on his legs, fingers running through Keith’s long black hair. Keith pulls himself up and grabs onto Lance’s arm, burying his face into the neck of the other. Lance slowly begins to rock Keith side to side, his free arm wrapped around Keith’s shaking shoulders. Soon his tears stop yet Lance doesn’t stop rocking until Keith weakly pushes him away, wiping his face. No words are passed between the two as Lance stands and helps Keith up as well, leading the exhausted and disheveled Red paladin to the Blue’s room. Keith drops down onto Lance’s bed as the door closes.  
“I’m sorry,” Keith whispers. Lance sits down beside him.  
“For what?”  
“For having to see me like that…and…thank you.”  
“There’s no need to apologize. You’re welcome, I heard you stumble out and your hiccups. I couldn’t leave someone that I care about alone like that.”  
“W-wait…you care…about me?”  
“Er, yeah, I do. I have since we’ve met and,” Lance chuckles. “I know you do as well. I can see it in your eyes and how you grabbed onto me. But, what happened?” Keith hesitates before reciting his nightmare. Throughout the story Lance has edged closer to Keith until he’s able to place a hand on his knee, his thumb rubbing comforting circles.  
“Come here,” Lance says after Keith is finished. Lance wraps his long arms around him. Keith stiffens before relaxing and squeezing his own arms around Lance. Neither wants to let go but soon the body heat becomes too much for the both of them. Keith weaves his fingers in Lance’s and Lance tightens his grip on Keith’s hand. Lance leans over to Keith and kisses his cheek before pecking his lips. Keith looks at Lance, eyes wide and face as red as his jacket that’s hanging in the other room. Lance pulls Keith up by the hand, not letting go even once he stands up. With his free hand, he pulls back the covers to his bed and releases his grip from Keith to climb in. Keith climbs in after and soon Lance’s arm is over Keith’s waist and under his arm, pulling him closer to his chest. Keith grins as his eyes flutter peacefully closed to not open again until they wake up in the morning. Sure, the circumstances aren’t what Keith expected, but at least now he can say that he held Lance McClain’s hand; and let me tell you, his hands are exactly how Keith imagined them to be.

**Author's Note:**

> I made myself sad when writing the nightmare heh


End file.
